Going Home
by StrangeLuna
Summary: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna and Draco find themselves in a different world and run into a rather odd Company of dwarves... On their way to Erebor they come across many adventures, while trying to figure out what brought them to Middle-Earth. This story is meant to be both moving and fun with a bit of romance involved once in a while. :)
1. Chapter 1

**1. **

It had been a week since the Battle of Hogwarts had been won. Harry Potter and his friends were still at school to help and rebuild it, for Voldemort had destroyed most of it. On this very day they had start working on the Great Hall and they were getting on pretty well. It was their break time and they had decided to pay a short visit to Aberforth Dumbledore, who lived in Hogsmeade. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Luna were on their way to the Room of Requirement where there was a short cut by portrait to the Hog's Head, the pub where Aberforth worked.

'I hope there's pudding,' Luna said in her dreamy voice and smiled at Harry, who chuckled quietly.

'And chicken,' Ron added.

'Oh, Ronald, honestly!' Hermione said disapprovingly and rolled her eyes.

They were making their way through one of the long hall on the seventh floor, or rather what was left of it. On their right they saw the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy who, as always, was desperately trying to get some trolls to practice ballet. They stumped their feet for a bit, but then decided ballet was not their thing and swung their clubs at him. He dodged them and grinned, then quickly waved his wand at the four wizards and witches passing by and continued making pirouettes. Luna was the only one who waved back.

Ron shook his head at her and mumbled a quiet 'loony'.

'Ron! I heard that!' Hermione sneered at him.

'What? I wasn't even talking about you,' he replied, clearly not understanding.

'It doesn't matter _who_ you were talking about, there was no need. Luna is just polite and, to be honest, I feel bad enough for not waving at sir Barnabas myself. And then to mock Luna for doing so is utterly ridiculous! You should stop making fun of her and see her as a big example you could learn from. Not to mention-'

'Bloody hell, Hermione, what's got your knickers in a twist?' Ron sighed, staring at her as if she had gone mental.

'All I'm saying is-'

'It doesn't matter,' Luna interrupted her, 'I don't mind it.'

'You _should_ mind! Really, if-'

'Hermione, zip it, will you?'

'No, Ron, you zip it. Listen to me, if-'

'HERMIONE!'

'I am being serious here-'

'Blimey, will you keep quiet for once?!' Ron bellowed.

'Shut up. Both of you,' Harry interfered, 'We are here.'

In front of them was the tall brick wall that led to the Room of Requirement – if you required it. They did, obviously, so it wasn't very long before a door appeared.

'Ladies first,' Ron sighed sarcastically as he opened the door for Luna and Hermione. He and Harry followed them inside.

As they entered the nearly empty room they immediately spotted a tall, blonde boy in the corner of the room. Draco Malfoy glanced over his shoulder, a frightened look on his face. The next moment, everything was spinning around them and turned black.

Harry's vision was blurry at first. All he could make out was a bright colour of green surrounding him. He searched around, looking for his glasses. It took a while before he found them. When he put them on and could see clearly again, he noticed that he found himself at the edge of a forest.

'Malfoy,' he spat as he saw the Slytherin boy sitting a few feet away from him. 'What have you done?'

Draco looked around, trying to determine where they were, but the only familiar thing he saw was Harry Potter. '_I_ haven't done anything. Something started tugging me backwards when you came in. So I might as well ask; what have _you_ done?'

'Nothing!' Harry told him. 'We entered the Room of Requirement, but that was it. We haven't done _anything_.'

'Where are we?' Hermione, who had landed in a small pile of mud, asked while scanning the surroundings.

'No idea,' Ron coughed. He was sitting on hands and knees and held his stomach, feeling quite sick. He was trying his hardest not to throw up in front of his friends.

Luna was the first to get up and brushed the dirt from her colourful skirt. 'Have you seen these flowers?' she asked, pointing at three elegantly curled, purple plants. 'I have never seen anything like them before…'

'I have never even read about these,' Hermione thought out loud as she walked up to Luna, 'Not even in Herbology class.'

As the others scanned for clues, Draco got up and slowly walked to their right, looking around as if searching for something or someone. Harry noticed that he looked almost afraid. 'Looking for your mummy?' he called after him.

'Shut up, Potter! Of course not. I was just looking for someone who could tell us where we are. Wouldn't that be easier?'

Harry had to admit, it was not a bad idea. 'Fair enough,' he said and beckoned the others over. 'This way! Maybe we'll run into someone.'

So they walked past trees and bushes hoping to find a witch, wizard or even a muggle who could tell them where they were. After what seemed like hours of walking, they heard loud singing and laughing nearby. 'Quiet,' Harry whispered and immediately ducked behind a few bushes. The others followed his example and hid behind him. As careful as he could Harry peered through the branches. He saw quite a large company approaching them over a small sand path.

'Who are they?' Ron asked in a hushed voice.

'I don't know,' Harry replied, 'But it appears they're riding on horses.'

'Ponies,' Luna corrected him, 'They're ponies.'

'Wh- How?' Harry stammered.

'They're too small to be horses. They have to be ponies.'

'They can't be ponies,' Hermione told the other witch, sighing deeply. 'If they were, the riders would seem taller, relatively speaking. However, they don't.'

'Then the riders are short,' Luna smiled.

'Luna's right. We used to have ponies at home. They looked like that. Broad, short and sturdy.'

'Well you would know,' Draco whispered, 'You and your farm.'

'Oi!' Ron bellowed, forgetting to keep his voice down.

Immediately the company came to a halt and the riders looked around. One of them instantly jumped off his horse and sprinted towards the bushes in which the five were hiding. As soon as he got closer it turned out Luna had been right; he was short. _Very_ short. Nevertheless he seemed muscular and strong. The clothes he was wearing were quite different from what people wore in the wizarding world – or even the muggle world. He reminded the children of warriors from the Middle Ages. He was carrying a broad sword which hung from the belt around his waist, and there was a bow and quiver on his back. He reached for them as he stepped closer.

'Show yourselves!' he ordered, placing an arrow on his bow.

Harry's instincts told him to get his wand out, but when he reached for it he instantly realised it was very bad idea. Because, as he moved his arm, the bushes in front of him rustled. The short man pointed the bow at him. 'Got you,' he said softly.

The boy still had no intention of showing himself to the stranger, but Hermione had different plans. 'Don't shoot!' she said as she got out from behind the shrub and raised her hands in the air. Ron, Draco, Luna and eventually Harry, did the same.

A bit hesitant the man lowered his bow. 'Who are you? And what are you doing here?' he asked narrowing his eyes.

'Well, one moment we were in the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts, but then everything started to spin and we ended up here. We don't know whether it was Portkey or-'

'Wow, what? Room of where? In Hogwhat? And a what kind of key?'

Hermione glanced over her shoulder at Harry, Ron, Luna and Draco, but they all shrugged, not knowing how any wizard could not know about Hogwarts, or Portkeys. Unless… he wasn't a wizard. 'You can't be a muggle…'she whispered more to herself than to anyone else.

'Can't be a what?'

Draco interrupted their conversation and bluntly said; 'What the hell are you? You can't be a muggle, obviously. Clearly not a wizard; you're far too stupid to be one. So what are you?'

'Well, we've got a wizard,' he pointed his thumb over his shoulder at a taller man with what appeared to be a large, pointy hat on his head. Harry narrowed his eyes and could make out a figure that seemed vaguely familiar. The man had a long, grey beard and wore a dark grey cloak. As he and the other shorter riders approached on their horses, Harry could make out his wrinkled face. For a moment he thought he recognised it, but then he looked again. It wasn't Dumbledore. 'But to answer your question,' the short man in front of them continued, 'I'm a dwarf. And so are the rest of them,' he said, gesturing behind him again.

'Dwarves?' Harry frowned, 'They don't live in these parts. Not in England… Where are we?'

Another 'dwarf' dismounted his pony and walked up to the children. 'What've you been drinking, mate? You're in Middle-Earth of course! Near the Shire!' He laughed cheekily and took his hat from the top of his head in order to salute them.

Ron, who had been staring blankly ahead for a while now, finally blinked and briefly looked at Luna, who nodded understandably.

'Where… is Middle-Earth?' Ron asked, hoping anyone could tell him.

A third dwarf joined in on their conversation. He had blonde, braided hair. Even his moustache was braided. 'How do you mean?' he asked Ron chuckling softly, 'This is it. All there is, obviously.'

To everyone's surprise Luna laughed quietly. 'No Ron,' she told her friend, 'Middle-Earth is another world. I've read about it. And my father used to tell me stories. No one ever believed me when I told them about it, but here we are.'

Fili raised his eyebrows and looked at her. 'At least one of you is remotely clever,' he muttered. Hermione seemed offended and raised a sharp eyebrow at the short man. 'So, you're dwarves, in a different world? Well then, if you're both so smart then tell me, how did we get here?' she sneered.

One by one the others arrived, including the taller man who the first dwarf had introduced as the wizard. He pushed the blonde dwarf, the dwarf with the hat and the dwarf with bow and arrow aside and took a good look at the five children in front of him. 'What are you names?' was the first thing he asked.

'Harry,' Harry said, 'Harry Potter, sir.' He added the 'sir' subconsciously, not completely knowing where it came from. It just felt right. 'And this is Ron, Hermione, Luna and Malfoy.'

'Draco Malfoy,' Draco corrected him.

'I see,' the old man said, 'I am Gandalf. And, just like you, I claim to be a wizard.'

'How do you know we are wizards?' Hermione asked, 'Or witches, in my and Luna's case.'

Gandalf just smiled and turned to Harry. 'Tell me, what exactly happened before you arrived?'

'I-I don't know,' Harry stammered, 'Like we said we were in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts, things started spinning and we landed near this forest.'

'They weren't supposed to be there,' Draco added, 'It was just me before this lot came barging in.'

'Interesting,' the wizard in front of them said slowly.

'Yes, I'm sure it is, but could you please explain to us what happened? And why we are here?'

'I can only guess,' Gandalf coughed, 'But I do know this; there are several world linked with each other. There are bridges, if you like, that can transport you to anywhere in the universe. These bridges might be opened in any direction by powerful, very powerful, magic.'

He looked at the five, young wizards. 'I hardly believe it could be your work…'

If Hermione's eyes had not been big enough already, they widened even further, so insulted she was. She was about to open her mouth and say something about how Gandalf was wrong, but fortunately Harry beat her to it.

'So something or someone wants us to be here?' he asked.

'It would same so,' Gandalf smiled, 'It is most definitely an option, anyway. But a very strange one at that. If the bridges are opening this could mean a danger to our world. Who knows what else, or who else, could be coming through? These times are dark and difficult without other worlds involved…'

He paused and stopped to see if the younger ones were keeping up. They seemed to understand more of it than the majority of the dwarves anyway. He went on, 'I would very much like to look into it a little more… And therefore I suggest you come along with us.'

'Us?' Ron asked, 'Come with you? I'd rather go home.'

'But, we don't know how to get back home,' Luna reminded him, 'Give me a reason why we should not go.'

'We don't know them, they're strangers! There could be dangers. We don't know anything about this world and-'

'I could help you,' Gandalf interrupted him, 'We are going to find out who or what wants you here, and why. And when we do we will find a way for you to go back to England. We are on our way to Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, where these dwarves come from. They are going home.' He chuckled at himself, 'I seem to be an expert when it comes to taking people back home. You should trust me. Come with us.'

A tall dwarf, who looked rather haughty, stepped closer. 'Before you invite any more stranger to our Company, Gandalf, I would like you to consult with me. This is my Company after all and you have already brought your own… guest.'

Another short man, who appeared different from the others and wasn't carrying any armour or weapons but walked bare feet, came towards them. 'Are these five going on an adventure as well?' he grinned ignorantly.

The tall dwarf frowned and eyed Gandalf. 'See what I mean? I would rather have you choose our friends wisely this time.'

'These children are wizards and witches, Thorin Oakenshield, they could be of use to us!'

Harry looked at his friends and shrugged. 'What do you think?' he asked them, 'Do we go?'

'Are you mad? I'm not going anywhere with these freaks!'

'Then you can stay here if you like,' Ron sneered, 'Hermione?'

'Oh, I don't know…' the girl muttered, frowning slightly.

'I say we go,' Luna's voice sounded louder than Hermione's. 'It's better than not going anywhere. Besides, I like it here.'

The blonde dwarf behind Gandalf grinned at her and gave her a subtle thumbs up. She blushed a bit and smiled back shyly.

'That's decided then,' Harry said, 'We're coming with you.'

'Fair enough,' Thorin grumbled and ordered, 'Get them all a pony.'

A dwarf they had not noticed before with a high voice and a bad haircut replied, 'We don't have enough ponies!'

There was a short silence as everyone looked at each other, confused and not knowing what to do to solve this problem.

'Oh I know!' the blonde dwarf with the braids called out eventually, 'We could share a pony with them. I know I can. The blonde girl could come we me, for example. J-just an idea.'

'Yeah,' the dwarf with bow and arrow agreed, 'And the other girl could come with me!' He nodded a few times in agreement with himself, waiting for the others to confirm that it was a good idea.

Hermione did not seem as annoyed anymore and stared at ground beneath her feet for a while, while Ron rolled his eyes.

The blonde dwarf walked up to Luna and bowed. 'Fili,' he said as he straightened his back, 'At your service.' And offered her his hand. 'Come along,' he told her and pulled her past Gandalf and the other dwarves. 'This is Bungo,' he smiled as he pointed at his pony. 'Go on, up you get,' he said and helped her into the saddle.

The dark haired dwarf, who appeared to be the only one without a beard, flung his bow over his back and reached for Hermione hand. He bowed once he had grasped it and introduced himself as 'Kili, at your service.' This time the girl actually blushed and for a moment she did not quite know how to reply. 'H-Hermione Granger,' she stammered and followed him to _his_ pony.

'What do we do with the others?' the dwarf with the hat asked. 'Who is going to take them?'

A very fat dwarf pointed at Ron. 'You can come with me, if you like?'

Ron panicked slightly and briefly looked at Harry. 'Help me,' he whispered in a high-pitched voice, 'Harry ? I don't want to go with _him_.'

But Harry just grinned and slapped him on the back. 'Off you go,' he told him, trying real hard not to burst out in laughter.

'My name's Bombur,' the fat dwarf told Ron as he led him to a bigger, stronger, pony.

'Right,' Ron sighed helplessly, 'Not at my service, then?'

Bombur chuckled and helped Ron mount the pony, before doing so himself.

'And what about this one?' the dwarf with the hat asked, pointing at Harry.

'He will come with me,' Gandalf said and gestured for Harry to come with him. His horse was beautiful and pearly white. 'This, is Shadowfax,' the old wizard muttered slowly and looked at Harry to see his reaction. As Harry's eyes met Gandalf's he saw a subtle sparkle in them. For a very brief moment he was convinced it was Dumbledore again…

Meanwhile the other dwarves were trying to decide who would get 'the blonde one'.

'I don't want him,' the dwarf with the hat explained, 'He looks like he is trouble!'

'No he doesn't,' another disagreed.

'You take him then!'

'What? NO!'

'Dwalin?' the dwarf named Thorin interrupted, 'Get him to your pony. And hurry up, we are losing time.'

A large, broad dwarf stepped forward and took Draco by his shoulder. 'This way then, laddie,' he sighed in a low voice. Draco shivered and leaned back a bit. Somehow he did not like the look of this dwarf at all. It frightened him a bit, although he did not like to admit it…

So they rode off, following the path that seemed to be leading nowhere. One by one the dwarves were introduced by Gandalf. 'This is Fili,' he said, pointing at the blonde dwarf, 'And his brother, Kili.' That was the dwarf with the bow. 'And Dwalin, and Balin.' Balin was an older-looking dwarf with a large, grey beard, who appeared to be the leader's right hand. 'Then here we have Oin and Gloin. They are a very good at getting a proper fire going. And that is Ori, Dori and Nori.' He gestured at three other dwarves. The youngest, Ori, had been the one who had informed them they had no ponies left. 'This is Bombur,' Gandalf gestured at fat dwarf, 'That is Bifur,' he pointed at a dwarf with what appeared to be an axe stuck his head, 'And that is Bofur.' The dwarf with the hat grinned at the mention of his name. 'And this,' he pointed at thirteenth dwarf, 'Is the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield.' Thorin simply muttered something under his breath, which the children could not understand. It even appeared to be in a different language.

'And, who is that?' Hermione asked, looking over her shoulder at the other short man.

'That is Bilbo Baggins, our Burglar and good friend. He is not a dwarf, he is a hobbit from the Shire.'

'A hobbit?' Luna asked before anyone else could say anything, 'I thought hobbits didn't go on adventures?'

'How can you possibly know that?' Ron asked, arching his brows, but she didn't answer him.

Bilbo shrugged. 'It seems I am different, then. A hobbit on adventure. It would make a nice title for book, don't you think?'

Meanwhile Kili and Hermione were talking about something else. 'So, you're not from these parts then?' the dwarf asked her, desperately wanting to ask _something,_ _anything._

Hermione sighed. 'No, not exactly. I'm from an entirely different world, in fact.'

'Oh yeah. You mentioned…'

'You could show me around, though,' Hermione said hopefully.

'Not really. I'm not from around these parts either.'

'Oh.'

'Yeah.'

There was an awkward silence for a while, before Kili picked up the conversation again. 'I could tell you all about Middle-Earth, though.'

'Okay!' Hermione answered eagerly, 'I love learning about-'

Ron, together with Bombur, caught up with them. 'Say, if you're a dwarf,' he interrupted, 'how come you don't have a beard?'

Kili bit his lower lip and looked away. 'I… don't really know. It's something lots of people tease with, actually.'

'Yeah, I can imagine,' Ron agreed, 'A dwarf without a beard? That's mental.'

'Ron!' Hermione sneered, 'Will you shut up? I think he looks nice.'

Kili smiled broadly. 'Really?'

'Yes, I mean, well…' she thought for a while, 'It looks alright. Better than the others anyway. I'm not saying that I think you're – oh never mind.'

But even though she looked away and kept her mouth shut, she could tell Kili was grinning from ear to ear. Ron, once again, rolled his eyes and told Bombur to pass them by.

Fili and Luna who were riding their pony not very far from Kili and Hermione had heard most of their conversation. Fili had even winked cheekily at Kili and had mouthed 'way to go, brother.'

Luna and the dwarf had not spoken yet ever since they had mounted. They were both a bit hesitant when it came to making new friends. Eventually Luna was the first to talk and smiled at him fondly.

'I like your braids.'

**Author's note: Like I said I have been working on a little project with my very best friend. We've had a blast writing this and are very proud to get out there. This story is a real baby of us and we have plenty ideas for the future but we do need your help. So, please leave a review and let us know whether you like Going Home or not. **

**Love, from both of us. **


	2. Chapter 2

**2. **

None of the young wizards and witches had expected the journey would be such a long one, but after three days, there was still no sight of the end of the road and they began to wonder whether they would ever reach whatever they were headed for. No matter how many questions they asked, no answers were given. On the end of the third day when the sun had gone down and Oin and Gloin had lit a fire, Harry sat down next to Gandalf and once again tried to begin a conversation with the mysterious wizard. 'You remind me of someone I know. Someone I used to know.'

The wizard seemed surprised. 'Who?'

'An old friend.'

'Who?' Gandalf repeated.

'A very wise man, one of the wisest I have ever known, but full of mysteries, never giving any answers. He even looked a bit like you. He once told me to remember that there is always a light, even in the darkest of times.'

'Quite right, I should say,' the old man laughed and puffed out a smoke ring which fell apart when it was a few inches away from them and then turned into a green butterfly.

'But, sir, what if that light is going out? Slowly?' Harry asked, leaning his chin on his hands.

'Then you have to light it again, my dear boy.'

Harry chuckled. 'He could have said something like that.'

'You said 'used to know'? What happened your…' he hesitated, 'Old friend?'

'He died,' Harry answered truthfully, instantly remembering the night on the Astronomy Tower. Gandalf did not reply but nodded. After a while he looked up again and asked Harry, 'What happened?'

Harry shook his head. 'It is complicated.'

'Yes, must be,' Gandalf muttered under his breath.

Harry glanced over his shoulder to see the others sitting by the small bon fire. Luna and Fili had grown very fond of each other over the days and were hardly ever apart. They were usually joined by Kili and Hermione. Harry suspected Kili never let his older brother out of his sight… Hermione and Luna were both waving their wands and sent a couple of sparks flying. The two dwarf brothers seemed more than impressed.

'Brilliant!' Kili exclaimed.

'Show us some more!' Fili laughed.

Luna and Hermione exchanged glances and as one called out, 'Expecto Patronum!'

Silver strings spat from their wands and filled the air around the fire. Hermione's patronus was an otter, turning and twirling around Kili's head. Luna's rabbit immediately skipped higher into the air and shone brightly against the dark night sky. They watched as the patronus danced further and further away until it stopped moving and sat down in the sky, the moon behind it.

'That's beautiful,' Luna noticed.

Fili nodded. 'Did you know, in this world 'Luna' means 'Moon'?'

Luna smiled and looked at him briefly, instantly turning back to gaze at the sky when his eyes met hers. 'It does? It does in our world as well.'

She tore her eyes from the rabbit again to look at the dwarf next to her. This time she did not look away when he stared back. For a moment everything seemed to stop and stand still for them and she lost herself in his eyes. He just chuckled and looked up to the stars again.

'It's gone!' he exclaimed surprised, pointing at the moon.

He was right. Where Luna's patronus had been was now a dull, dark sky. Luna laughed out loud as she realised what had happened. While talking to her new friend she had lost all concentration and the patronus had probably died out. Which was odd, Luna later realised, because after all a patronus fed from happiness, and if she was anything at the moment it was happy.

Kili and Hermione had followed their gazes and were now looking at the moon as well. Hermione quietly wondered, 'Do you think it is the same moon as in the world where I am from?'

Kili shrugged, genuinely not knowing. 'I would like to think that it is,' he smiled at her, 'It would create less distance between us.'

There was a short silence, and Hermione felt Kili look at her. She was too shy to meet his gaze, but wanted to. However, she remained staring at her patronus otter which had dived into the flames a few moments ago and seemed to swim in them.

'When we find out how, are you going home again?' Kili asked.

'I can't even think about that. What if I'll never be able to go home?'

Kili looked at her with a certain compassion in his eyes. 'Gandalf will know a way. He always knows everything. He'll get you home before you know it.'

'Do you really think so?' she smiled at him.

Before he could reply, Ron appeared from out of nowhere and sat down between them. 'Hello,' he said, looking from the dwarf to the witch with a grin on his face. 'What are we talking about? I'm hungry. Haven't we got anything to eat?'

Both Hermione and Kili looked away, more than slightly annoyed.

'Did someone mention food?' came a voice from behind them. It was the hobbit and, just like Ron, he sat down next to them. 'It's far after dinner time if you ask me! Can't Bombur cook us something nice?'

'Yes, please,' Ron laughed at him, 'I could do with some chicken or beef right now. I'm starving.'

'Good to have a friend when it's comes to food. What's your name again?'

'Ron. Ron Weasley.'

Bilbo nodded. 'Very good. Now, Kili, could you fetch Bombur for us and gather the others?'

Kili sighed but, though very reluctantly, got up and walked away to rest of the group near the second campfire. It wasn't long before he returned, indeed followed by Bombur and the others. The fat dwarf was carrying some pots and pans and a big bag which Ron hoped was filled with food. Behind him was Draco Malfoy, who looked like he would rather be in Hell than in Middle-Earth. Next to him was Dwalin, who would not let him out of his sight for even a second.

'This one was muttering something just now,' he grumbled, 'I told you. He can't be trusted!' He pointed at Draco and arched his brows. 'Up to no good, this one. I tell you.'

'What were you doing, Malfoy?' Harry sneered, eyeing him suspiciously.

'Trying to disapparate, of course,' he replied bluntly. 'Are you telling me that you haven't even given that a go?'

Harry shrugged at him, not wanting to admit that he had not thought of that himself.

'Whether he tried to disapparate or not,' came Gandalf's deep voice from their left, 'I can guarantee it will not work here. Like I said; it was something powerful that got you here. A simple spell can't undo what is done.'

'What about the rest of our magic? Other 'simple spells', will they work?' Hermione asked curiously and slightly panicking. If they could not use their wands, she realised, they would be very vulnerable.

'I cannot say. Some might work, some might not. It is to be seen.'

'Enough of this chatter,' Bofur called out as he, too, joined the group around the first campfire, 'Bombur, make us some stew.' He grinned at Ron and Bilbo, who seemed very grateful and then added, 'You lot, let him pass. He needs room.'  
Harry, Draco and Hermione all moved to their right a bit so Bombur could pass and get to the fire. He immediately got to work.

To pass the time, Bofur, Nori and Ori started a song. It was not long before the others joined in and before the wizards and witches realised what exactly was happening, all thirteen dwarves were chanting a merry song. Draco rolled his eyes.

'_Sing a song, or a good few_

_Drink our fine ale and eat our stew_

_Chip the glasses and crack the plates, _

_That's what Draco Malfoy hates.'_

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Luna started to laugh and clapped along to the rhythm, Draco seemed less amused. He was not sure what he hated most about; the lyrics making fun of him, the singing itself, or perhaps the general idea of being in the middle of bloody nowhere with a couple of soon-to-be drunk dwarves. Because Bombur, who had nearly finished his stew, poured a few mugs of ale in and handed them to the company. The wizards – apart from Gandalf - kindly declined.

'Bottoms up!' Fili cried out, laughing heartily and he and the others tilted their mugs and drank them empty to the last drop.

After dinner, which had caused smiles on many faces, they all sat down around the campfire, hoping to get to know each other better. (Ron and Bilbo, who were finally stuffed, seemed to be the merriest people in the bunch.)

'… but in the end because of Fawkes, Harry managed to slay the basilisk and everything ended up quite alright actually. Hermione was no longer of stone, anyway,' Ron finished his story, because Bilbo had asked for a short tale from their world.

Some of the dwarves cheered, others looked at Harry as if they could not believe what Ron had just told.

'All that? When you were twelve? Impressive,' Dori muttered a bit sarcastically, not buying the entire story.

'Tell us more!' Bofur laughed, still applauding a bit. 'Come on!'

Ron was just about to tell how for twelve years everyone in the wizarding world had thought Harry godfather was mass-murderer, but Luna, who was more interested in Middle-Earth than any of the others, beat him to it.

'I'd rather here something about your world, instead,' she smiled, looking side-ways at Fili. He did not disappoint her and immediately straightened his back and started talking.

'Well, there are many creatures here I doubt you've heard of…'

After quite a long story about monsters the wizards and witches had never thought possible, Fili finished with mentioning the orcs. Somehow Thorin shivered at hearing the name, but if it bothered him, he made no mention of it.

'In fact,' Fili continued his tale, 'There a quite a lot of orcs in these surroundings. They might come at us at night and cut our throats while we are asleep.'

'Quick and quiet. No screams, just lots of blood,' his brother added with a subtle smirk.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna and Draco all looked at each other a bit startled. Ron, in fact, looked very terrified and muttered an almost inaudible 'bloody hell'.

To their surprise, Fili and Kili burst out laughing, just like a few of the other dwarves. However, their grins disappeared when Thorin got up. 'You think that's funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?'

'We didn't mean anything by it,' Kili mumbled shyly and looked away.

'No, you didn't. You know nothing of the world.' And with that he walked away from the campfire and ignored the piercing stares from his company. He stood still near the ponies and looked out over the lands below.

The others looked a bit bewildered and worried. Bilbo was about to go after him when Balin motioned for him to sit down again. 'Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs…'

And so Balin told the story of Erebor.

'After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria...but our enemy had got there first. Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs, led by the most vile of all their race, Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the King.

Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed; we did not know. We were leaderless, defeat and death were upon us. That is when I saw him.'

Balin looked at Thorin, who was still standing motionlessly with his back turned towards the company.

'The young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armour rent, wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield...Azog the Defiler learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied and drove the Orcs back; our enemy had been defeated.'

The old dwarf frowned and sighed deeply. There was a great sadness in his eyes.

'But there was no feast nor song that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived and I thought to myself then 'There is one I could follow. There is one I could call King'.

Without Bilbo, the wizards and the witches noticing, Thorin had turned around and all the other dwarves bowed before him. Thorin simply nodded and walked towards the fire again to join his friends.

'So you lived in Moria from then on?' Hermione asked the dwarf, 'Why did you leave? Why do you want to go back to Erebor, now?'

Thorin frowned and stared into the flames. 'Because Erebor is our homeland. It is where we were born and were some of us grew up. Besides, they say that after many years the rein of the beast is coming to its end and our long lost treasure will be ours again.'

'Treasure?' Hermione muttered.

'There lies a dwarven treasure in Erebor and it is rightfully mine; as it belongs to the line of Durin. I would like it back. I am going to share it with my company, when all of this over, obviously.'

'Is it big enough to be shared?' Draco asked curiously, mainly because he wanted to know about how _much_ treasure they were talking.

Thorin shot him a nasty look but answered him truthfully. 'Definitely.'

'But if we have to get to the Lonely Mountain, that has got to be quite a long trip, right? Where are we? Compared to Erebor?'

'We are still near the Shire,' Thorin replied, 'Which means we have got a long road ahead.'

'And where will this road take us?'

It was Gandalf who answered this question. 'Far to east, over ranges and rivers. The road goes ever on and on, we will see where it takes us, Mr Malfoy.'

The blonde boy shook his head and sighed. He did not like the mysterious wizard and his riddles one bit and hoped that one of the other dwarves would enlighten him.

Balin was noticed and chuckled, 'We follow Gandalf wherever he goes. He will lead us to safety and I trust him very much.'

Gandalf nodded, 'Thank you.'

The next day the entire group found themselves sitting on the ponies and following the never ending road once more. The green forest close to which the children had first landed, had been on their right for the entire journey. They were slowly moving further away from it today. However, on their left appeared a new, much darker forest and as it drew closer none of the company could help worrying about what creatures could hide in there. Their path lead up a tall, green hill, which gave the ponies a difficult time. And to make it even more worse for everyone, it had started to rain. Not just a few drops, but big splashes came pouring down and made sure they were all soaked before the afternoon.

'Mr Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?' Dori nagged as he wiped his face for the tenth time that day.

'It is raining, master dwarf. And it will continue to rain until the rain is done,' Gandalf snorted, 'If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard.'

'Could you do it, though?' Harry asked curiously. He hardly knew Gandalf but he could tell he was a very different wizard from himself or any of his friends. For starters, he did not use a wand, but a staff; although so far, Harry had not seen him use it…

'Could I change the weather? Perhaps. If I would want to.'

'But you don't?'

'I would rather not interfere with nature, if I can help it. In fact, I would rather not use magic at all. Using my powers is always a tricky business, I have to be very careful.'

Harry decided to ask no more than that, and Gandalf seemed to approve. So they continued their journey, most of it in silence because after a while not even the crankiest of dwarves had anything to add to the fact that the weather was bad and that it was tedious.

Before they knew, the sun was going down again, the rain had finally stopped and they had found a place on the hill to camp for the night. Oin and Gloin were trying to get a fire going, like the day before. However, the wood they found was still wet from the rain and they had trouble lighting it.

'Let me try,' Gloin told his older brother.

'What?' Oin frowned, holding his ear trumpet against his ear.

'I said, let me try.'

'Yes, I know it's not working but there's no need to cry!'

'Cry?'

'Try what?'

Gloin rolled his eyes. 'You are getting deafer by the day.'

'I HEARD THAT.'

'Of course you did,' Gloin muttered.

'What did you say?'

While the two dwarves were arguing, Hermione jumped between them. 'Oh, move over,' she sighed as she got her wand out and pointed it at the wet wood. 'Incendio,' she murmured. As soon as she had uttered the spell, small blue flames appeared and set the rest of the wood alight. They immediately spread a lovely warmth.

Oin and Gloin looked at her in pure amazement. 'How did you-'

She shrugged. 'It's nothing big; just a simple spell. I wanted to know if it worked here.' Leaving the two others speechless she turned around to walk away. She nearly bumped into Kili. 'Oh, I'm sorry,' she smiled and was about to walk past him. He caught her wrist and stopped her and pointed at the fire. 'You did that brilliantly,' he grinned.

'T-thank you,' she blushed shyly as she looked into his eyes. He looked away rather quickly and coughed twice. 'I was wondering-' he began, but he was rudely interrupted by his uncle.

'Fili, Kili; look after the ponies.'

Kili bit his lower lip and muttered something under his breath, but obeyed anyway and strode off; following his brother into the forest where the ponies were resting.

Hermione sighed. She had been sure the dwarf had meant to ask her something, and whatever it would have been she was almost certain she would have said yes.

Later that evening, Bofur asked Bilbo to take some stew to 'the lads'. The hobbit understood he meant Fili and Kili. So he took the two bowls from the dwarf's hands and made his way to the forest. Ron, who saw him leave, decided to follow him.

'I was wondering,' Ron asked his new friend as he caught up with him, 'Do you know where Gandalf has gone?'

The hobbit shook his head. 'No, but Bofur said he does that. It's a wizard's thing, apparently.'

'I am wizard but I would never just take off,' the boy laughed.

'I used to say that,' Bilbo sighed, 'But look where I am now. In some far-off land, near the edge of a dark forest with a bunch of dwarves and a couple of wizards. And they are convinced I am a burglar.'

'A burglar?' Ron frowned and looked at the hobbit. Bilbo did not look like a thief, according to him. And judging by the look on the hobbit's face, Bilbo agreed with him.

'That's why I am part of the company. Gandalf thought the dwarves needed a burglar who could creep past the dragon. He chose me, so here I am.'

He briefly smiled at Ron and they both glanced over his shoulder to see their camp. They could both tell Gandalf was not back yet.

They bushed a couple of branches aside and entered the dark forest. 'Over there,' Ron whispered and pointed in the distance. 'Is that a light?'

Bilbo peered past a tall tree. 'I believe it is! That's got to be Fili and Kili.' However, he made no move and simply stood there for a while, until Ron finally said, 'Well, come on then.'

So they followed the light and as they got closer they could hear the ponies whinny. And eventually the silhouettes of Fili and Kili became visible. They were indeed watching the ponies, as they were told. As Ron and Bilbo walked up to them and greeted them, however, they still would not take their eyes off the ponies. They were taking their job very seriously, apparently. But after a while Bilbo noticed the far-off, worried look in their eyes. He raised an eyebrow and, a bit concerned, he asked, 'What's the matter.'

Kili was the first to answer, he still wouldn't take his eyes off the ponies. 'We're supposed to be looking after the ponies.'

'Only, we've encountered a slight problem,' his brother added.

'We had sixteen…'

'Now there's fourteen,' Fili finished Kili's sentence.

'Wh- How is that possible?' Bilbo asked, confused.

Ron, in the meantime, had gone off to check on the remaining ponies and recounted them. The dwarves were right; there were only fourteen left.

'Daisy and Bungo are missing,' came Kili's voice from behind him. Ron jumped and turned around, slightly startled. 'Right. So. Where have they gone then?'

The dwarf shrugged and looked at his brother, who was brushing one of the other ponies now. Fili motioned that he did not know either but then noticed an unrooted tree nearby. 'What's this?'

Bilbo's eyes widened and he looked at Ron in fear. The wizard's eyes were at least just as big as the hobbit's as he squeaked, 'Whatever did this must have been very, very big.'

The two dwarves nodded in agreement. 'And by the looks of these footprints, it must have gone that way,' Kili said, pointing to an even darker part of the forest ahead of them. 'Do we follow it?'

He did not wait for an answer. The dwarf cautiously stepped forward and lead his friends deeper into the woods. Eventually he hid behind a large branch and motioned for the others to do the same.  
Bilbo, who was still carrying the bowls of stew, mouthed, 'What is it?'

'Trolls.'

Ron swallowed hard at hearing the word and slowly repeated, 'Trolls? Here? I've met a troll once and he was-'

Fili pressed a finger against his lips. 'Keep quiet. They may be stupid, but they're not deaf.'

The small group watched the two trolls sitting around a campfire and it took some time before Bilbo finally noticed the ponies that were being kept behind some sort of improvised fence. 'They've got the ponies,' Bilbo exclaimed and then in a hushed voice continued, 'And Myrtle and Minty!'

He was right. A third troll appeared from their left and he was carrying two more ponies, which the two dwarves and Ron, too, recognised as Myrtle and Minty.

'What are they going to do with them?' Ron whispered. There was a certain hint of panic in his voice which would have made anyone laugh if the situation would have been less dangerous.

'They're going to eat them, of course,' Fili explained.

Ron and Bilbo both looked absolutely disgusted and horrified. 'Then we have got to get them out,' said the hobbit.

'Good idea,' Kili agreed, 'That seems like a task for our Burglar and young wizard.' Fili nodded, agreeing with his brother and turned to face the hobbit and Ron. 'Well?'

'What?' the hobbit muttered, 'Us? No. Nononono. You can't be serious?'

'Yes, we are. Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small. And don't forget, he,' he pointed at Ron, 'is a wizard! It's perfectly safe, we'll be right behind you.'

'What? No.'

But Fili and Kili already shoved their two companions forward in the direction of the trolls' camp. Ron and Bilbo turned around in order to tell the dwarves they had no intention of going, but they were already out of sight.

Ron drew in a deep breath and took a few steps towards the fire.

'Are we really going to do this then?' the hobbit stammered with a puzzled look in his eyes.

'We can't let them eat the ponies!' Ron told him, although he was beginning to wonder whether that was actually true. He did not really fancy risking his life to safe a couple of animals. To his surprise Bilbo apparently did. 'Fair enough,' the hobbit said.

And so the pair of them sneaked up to the trolls, who were talking so loudly about the food, that they did not hear the duo approach. 'Over here,' Ron whispered and he hid behind another tree trunk. They hopped from tree to tree, always out of sight of the trolls, until the finally reached the ponies, who started to whinny as soon as they spotted them.

Bilbo kept shushing them, but they did not seem to listen. Ron was still watching the trolls. They were different from the one he had encountered in his first year, but they did remind him of it. Subconsciously he checked whether his wand was still in his pocket.

It was.

'I'm starving,' one of the trolls complained, 'Are we 'aving 'orse tonight or what?'

'Shut your cakehole,' said their cook, 'You'll eat what I give ya.'

The first troll, they later found out his name was Tom, all of a sudden stopped to listen. He looked around and even glanced in the direction where Ron and Bilbo were hiding, but he did not see them. He shrugged and continued complaining. 'How come 'e's the cook? Everything tastes the same. Everything tastes like chicken…'

And so a bit of a troll-argument started, which gave Ron and Bilbo the opportunity to sneak closer to the ponies and deliberate.

'Do you have a knife?' Bilbo whispered, pointing at the ropes that held the ponies in their place. Ron shook his head, but took out his wand. 'I've got this, though,' he grinned and held it against the improvised fence. He tapped it three times and was about to mutter a spell when a big, hairy, sweaty hand got hold of him. Before he realised what was going on his wand was soaring threw the air and landed a few good feet away. He gasped as he got swept off his feet and swung high above the ground. The troll who was holding him, Bert his name was, looked at him funnily and chuckled darkly. Tom, next to him, was holding Bilbo up and threw him up, then to catch him again. 'Won't you look at this?'

'Can we cook 'em?'

'I dunno. We could try.'

Bilbo's eyes widened in terror. He swallowed hard and looked to his right to face Ron. Ron in his turn mouthed, 'What do we do now?' while looking around bewildered.

The hobbit showed no intention of answering him so Ron decided to give it a go on his own. 'Let me go!' he shouted at the troll holding him. 'Put me down. Now!' He struggled in order to free himself, but the troll's big hand was too strong. He had no chance of escaping, then.  
Bilbo wasn't shouting, too afraid to utter a word or make any kind of sound at all, but tried to wiggle free through Tom's fingers. He did not succeed. The three trolls simply laughed. Bert even licked his lips, his face was only inches away from Ron's. The boy made a scared, high-pitched noise, followed by a small 'blimey' when a bit of troll saliva dripped down Bert's chin and landed on his nose and cheek. 'That's bloody disgusting,' he squeaked, but shut his mouth when Bert threw him up in the air and caught him by his leg. The troll held him upside down and continued his bullying by swinging the wizard from left to right. Ron groaned loudly as he felt the blood rush to his head.

Bilbo still kept his mouth firmly shut. He hoped the trolls would leave him alone if he did not speak or cry for help. But Bill poked him in the rubs and sternly asked;

'What're you then?'

'I'm a burglar- I mean hobbit!' he corrected himself.

'A burglarhobbit?' Tom, who was still holding him in his fist asked confused. Bill, evidently the smarter one of the group, ignored him. 'Were you gonna rob us?' he asked slowly, poking the poor hobbit's tummy again. Bilbo shook his head, 'Nope.'

'He's lying!' Bert grumbled, still swinging Ron, who was turning very pale, back and forth.

'No, I'm not!'

'Are there more of you out there?' Bill asked.

'No, just us!'

'Really…?' the troll eyed his suspiciously and bared his rotting teeth.

'Just us. Just us! Now stop prodding my side!'

Bill had no intention of listening to him and poked his stomach again, but eventually he stopped. His thick and dirty finger still pointing at Bilbo, he turned.

'What is it, Bill?' Tom asked.

'Thought I 'eard something,' came the reply, but then the creature shrugged. 'I see nothing, though.'

'Then look again, you big pea-brain,' Ron whispered, but the troll did not hear. Bert had stopped throwing Ron around and was holding him in both his hands now. It was not very comfortable, but the boy was very glad he was no longer upside down. And while he was still trying to break free from Bert's grasp, he had something all the others had missed. Even Bilbo had not noticed… So it did not come as a surprise to Ron that the trolls all gasped when a dwarf jumped out of the bushes and stood in front of them.

'Drop them!' Kili exclaimed as he approached, holding his broad sword in both his hand.

'You what?' one of the trolls laughed.

'I said,' he twiddled his sword dangerously, 'drop them.'

And so the trolls did. Bert let go off Ron and threw him in Kili's direction. He landed on top of him with a loud thud and Kili groaned and had trouble getting up. Tom was still holding Bilbo, though. Bill took two big, threatening steps towards the dwarf and the young wizard, but before he could attack, a dozen more dwarves came out of the forest. Thorin was leading them, and was the first to reach Bill; he cut his knee with his sword. The trolls gasped in pain, but still lashed out with his bare hands. But Thorin, and any of the other dwarves, were far too fast for the slow trolls and dodged their attacks. They used their axes, swords, knives and in Ori's case; slingshots to hurt the trolls. Tom finally dropped Bilbo to help his mates, and the hobbit hurried off in the ponies direction. Ron spotted him from the corner of his eye and followed him.

'Where are your friends?' Bilbo asked, looking around. The Halfling was right; Harry, Hermione, Luna or Draco were know where to be seen.

'No idea,' Ron shrugged, aiming his wand – which he had picked up again during the small battle - at the ropes again. 'Relashio,' he muttered and the rope snapped. The ponies ran free out of the forest, in the direction of their camp.

'We did it!' Bilbo cried out to alert the others. Thorin heard and immediately called off the attack. 'Back to the camp!' he shouted, 'Quickly!'

'I don't think so.'

For a good long moment the fighting stopped and all eyes turned to Bill. The troll was holding Ron in his hands and motioned for Bert to grab one of his arms and one of his legs. 'Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off!'

No more than five minutes later the dwarves had all put their weapons down and the trolls had tied them all up. Part of the dwarves were put in bags, the other half put up on the spit, rotating above the fire. They were cursing and shouting louder than ever before.

Ron and Bilbo were amongst the ones put in bags. 'There has to be a way out of here,' Bilbo muttered but Ron simply shook his head and frowned. He could not think of anything.

'Where are Harry and Hermione when you need them?' he sighed.

**Author's note: Hi! We hope you enjoyed the second chapter of 'Going Home'. If you did, please leave a review. We really liked reading the ones you left last time so thank you, they made our day!**

**We guess some parts are very similar to the book (and film) and maybe some of you think the story is becoming a bit predictable... But not everything will be according to the story and there is much more to come! We are trying to work as fast as possible but since we see each other only once a week, it sometimes might take a while. Once again thank you so much for reading our story!**

**Love, from both of us**


	3. Chapter 3

**3. **

'I remember when I was in Bag End, wearing my robes, when a bunch of dwarves showed up on my doorstep and look where they got me!' Bilbo complained as he wiggled from left to right, struggling to get out of the bag.

'We didn't force you to come along, hobbit,' Thorin grumbled from behind him.

'Well, actually…'

While the Halfling and the dwarf bickered, Kili nudged Ron's bag, 'Can't you use that pointy-sticky thing of yours?' he asked.

'My wand? No, I can't. I hid it in my shoe, but it's no use to me now. Can't bloody reach it.'

The dwarves on the spit were still calling the trolls names, but Bert, Bill and Tom pretended not to hear any of them. Bill was turning the spit while grinning deviously, while Bert was looking after the stew and Tom was looking around, seeing if he could find one of the escaped ponies. However it appeared all of them had run off and saved their lives. At least that was one success, Ron decided and smiled weakly, staring at the trees while hoping more dwarves, or maybe his wizard friends would show up. In fact, for a brief moment, he thought he saw someone. But the trees only rustled in the wind, and nothing or no one else could be seen…

However, it is only obvious that people who are hiding cannot be seen. Harry, Hermione, Luna and Draco were all hiding behind a couple of trees close to the trolls' camp and they were watching their every move. From the dwarves' camp the wizards had seen a red glow spread from the forest and guessed there was a fire going. Not much later this had been followed by loud cries from their new friends and they had decided to look into it. Thorin had ordered the four of them to stay behind and watch their things when he, his nephews and the rest of the company had gone to find Bilbo and Ron who, according to Fili and Kili, could be 'in a bit of trouble', but after a short debate, Harry and Hermione had convinced the other two to go after them. After all, Harry had added with a smug grin, they had fought trolls before.

So here they were, about to free the dwarves, the hobbit and Ron. The only question left was how they were going to do it. Because even though they had fought trolls before, they had never fought three at the same time. And these three seemed particularly big…

'I say we go out there and knock them out,' Harry suggested, estimating how they would be able to do so.

'Harry, no way!' Hermione protested, before Harry could disagree, Draco said, 'I agree! Can't we just leave the dwarves to their mercy and escape?'

Harry shot him an angry look. 'We have to help Ron!'

'And the dwarves,' Luna added, sounding slightly angry as well.

'We could get ourselves killed while doing so,' Hermione reminded them.

'We've been in that situation and survived every time,' Harry reminded her in his turn, 'We stopped Voldemort and saved the wizarding world, I'm sure we can defeat a bunch of trolls, don't you?'

Hermione raised an eyebrow, but she couldn't disagree this time so she nodded. 'Let's do it.'

Draco looked down and shook his head, then rolled his eyes as he too nodded.

'Hermione, you release the others and the two of you,' he pointed at Draco and Luna, 'with me. We're going to distract the trolls,' Harry told them.

Luna and Draco nodded simultaneously and got out from behind the trees and ran towards the troll. Harry was the first to throw a small rock and Tom's head, which had the creature turn around and point and shout. It wasn't long before Bert and Bill noticed the wizards as well and slowly stumbled towards them.

Meanwhile, Hermione sneaked out and hurried to the dwarves in the bags, the hobbit and Ron. They all seemed surprised to see her. Ron smiled at her, and Kili instantly exclaimed, 'Hermione! Brilliant!' But she was in such a hurry that she did not even stop to look at him but immediately sprinted to Ron. She knelt down and started to untie the knot which held the bag closed around Ron's shoulders. 'Go and help the others,' she instructed him.

He ran off, though not before turning around and telling her thanks. He then added, 'Oh, and Hermione, you're a witch. Use your wand while helping the others.'

He then sprinted to Harry, Luna and Draco who were trying to stun the trolls. 'Stupify!' Draco bellowed, but his spell bounced off Tom's hairy, sweaty chest. However, the three wizards kept going, hoping one of them would work.  
It took Ron some time to decide how to help them, but once he saw the big kettle with stew on his left, he realised the job was fairly easy. 'Wingardium Leviosa,' he muttered, pointing his wand at the kettle. It was a heavy object, so Ron had to concentrate very hard, but in the end, the kettle rose up into the air and drifted towards Tom. The boy dropped it on his head and with a loud grunt the troll hit the floor. 'Brilliant,' Ron complimented himself and grinned at Harry who smiled back and gave him a thumbs up.

While Draco, Ron and Harry kept Bill and Bert busy, Luna decided to help Hermione with freeing the dwarves. She ran up to the spit and was about to shout 'Relashio' when Hermione cried a loud, 'No! Don't!'

Luna stopped, her wand still pointing at Bofur's hat, 'Why?' she asked.

'If the ropes snap now,' Hermione explained a tad annoyed, 'they'll drop into the fire.'

Luna smiled shyly, 'Of course. Aqua Eructo!'

The flames went out and the wood cooled off very fast. She grinned at the dwarves and aimed for the ropes. 'Relashio!'

As one the dwarves fell to the ground, landing with louds thuds. Bombur landed on top of the entire pile, causing a few more grunts. 'Get off.'

'You get off.'

'Shut up. Just get up, will you?'

Hermione finally got Oin out of his bag. He was the last one and now that all the dwarves were free, they decided to make themselves useful.

Bert saw them come running towards him and pushed past the wizards surrounding him, knocking Draco and Ron to the floor. He turned and started to make his way into the direction of the rest of the dwarves, Luna and Hermione. Because the troll was taller than the dwarves he would be the first to reach them and be able to knock them out or even kill them, from quite a distance. Bert didn't have to come close to them in order to harm them. However, the dwarves did not realise this and kept running, swinging their swords in the air while crying out their infamous battle cry. 'Du Bekâr!'

Hermione was the first to notice they couldn't win unless the troll was stopped. So, without a second's though, she pointed her wand at Bert and yelled, 'Locomotor Mortis!'

The troll's eyes widened and he shot her a surprise look, before his feet gave in and he stumbled over them. He hit the ground with a loud thud and an even louder groan.

Thorin was the first to reach the floored troll and jumped on top of him. He used the blunt side of his axe to hit the creature against the head. It let out another groan and stopped moving.

'Is he dead?' Gloin asked their leader.

'No. Merely knocked out,' came the reply. He jumped off the motionless body and continued in Bill's direction. The other dwarves followed without hesitation.

Bill was faced towards Ron, Harry and Draco, so he did not see the others attack him. Fili was the first to arrive and used both his short swords to slice the trolls' legs. He had hoped Bill would fall over as quickly as the other two had, but he was disappointed. Bill moaned, but simply spun around and lunged out. The back of his enormous hand hit Fili's face and the strength behind the action threw him backwards. He landed on the ground a few feet away from the others and did not get up.

'Fili! No!' Kili cried out, watching his brother lie motionlessly on the floor. He immediately turned to the troll and with a loud shout jumped forward and cut Bill's knee. It was the sign for the other dwarves, Harry, Ron, Draco and Hermione to attack at once. It wasn't long before the third troll was floored as well.

Luna, in the meanwhile, sprinted to Fili to make sure he was alright. As she knelt down next to him she realised that he was unconscious. She felt his pulse to check whether he was still breathing. He was. She took out her wand and muttered a few words. Nothing happened.

'Come on,' she whispered, 'Please…'

To her relief the dwarf slowly opened his eyes. 'Hey,' he grinned sheepishly.

'Hello,' she smiled and leaned back a bit to give him some space.

'Are the others all right?' he asked, sitting up.

Luna nodded and pointed at the group of dwarves and wizard a few feet away from them. 'They're fine.'

'I should help them,' he said, trying to get up. Luna motioned for him to sit down, but he could not be stopped. However just before he ran off he helped her up and smiled gently. 'Thank you,' he muttered before briefly pressing his lips against her forehead. Then he sprinted to his friends. She followed a bit hesitantly, feeling her cheeks burn slightly red.

When they arrived however, Bill was no longer moving but the dwarves had turned to Tom, who had woken up again.

'This is going to forever,' Bofur complained.

'Can't we just kill them?' Gloin suggested, looking at his companions.

Thorin shrugged. He did not care what happened to the creatures. 'Fair enough,' he sighed and nodded at Gloin, who heaved his axe up high and was about to let it fall down when Bilbo stopped him. 'We can't!' he told him disapprovingly, pushing Gloin away from Tom, who was unconscious again after Bofur had hit him on the head.

Thorin raised a sharp eyebrow and looked down upon the hobbit. 'And why not?' he asked.

Bilbo frowned and tried to come up with a convincing reply. He did not have to, because he Hermione beat him to it. 'Because it is cruel,' she told the dwarf.

'Then what do you suggest we do? We can't fight a never-ending battle.'

'I think-' she began but she couldn't finish her sentence because Bert came running towards them and Thorin knocked her out of the way and swung his sword at the troll. He missed however and Bert was about to use a big branch to hit him over the head when all of a sudden a figure appeared on a rock nearby.

'The dawn may take you all,' a well-known voice beamed. They couldn't make out his face but the dwarves and wizards realised it was Gandalf. With a swift movement of his staff he split the rock he was standing on in two and beams of sunlight shone through.

The trolls cried out in pain and fear and shriveled as one. Bilbo, who did not know a lot about trolls looked around confused and squeaked; 'What is happening?'

'They're turning into stone,' Ron remarked surprised as he stared around with a baffled look on his face.

Gandalf descended from the rock and met up with Thorin. The dwarf patted him on the back approvingly and thanked him. Everyone gathered around the wizard with hundreds of questions and no one noticed how one member of the company sneaked off…

Draco thought it was time to leave the ridiculous dwarves. Yes, he was still alive because of them, but they were also the ones who got him in trouble in the first place. Besides, he had better things to do.

He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one saw him go. He sniggered to himself when he saw the stupid idiots and the wizard with each other; not noticing anything.

He gasped in fear when he walked into something hard. 'Ouch,' he mumbled and was about to kick the tree that got in his way. But when he actually looked ahead he noticed it was the dwarf Dwalin, who looked up to him and shook his head. 'And where do you think you're going?' he asked skeptically.

Draco didn't know how to answer so he stammered a few words, but no full sentence came out. No matter how short the dwarf was, he still frightened him.

'Well?' Dwalin asked, raising his voice in order to scare the boy even more. But Draco still couldn't find the right words and shrugged. Dwalin sighed deeply and firmly gripped his arm and dragged him along; back to the group.

'Thorin,' he said to the leader, 'I caught this one wandering off.'

All eyes were on him now. Harry and Ron narrowed their eyes and Draco was almost sure he heard Potter mutter, 'Malfoy… Always the same thing.'  
Gandalf, too, shot him a suspicious look and raised both his eyebrows however, in contrast to the dwarves, he did not look angry nor surprised.

'And where were you wandering off to, if I may ask?' Thorin asked, pushing past the others and stepping closer to Draco. To his relief, Dwalin let go of him. He swallowed hard and, even though he was still scared, Thorin seemed less impressive and a lot friendlier than the other dwarf.

'I thought I heard something,' the boy squeaked, 'And saw something, too. So I went to check. It was nothing. Probably him, in fact,' he nodded at Dwalin.

Dwalin growled but didn't say anything. Thorin inhaled deeply and let out a quiet 'hmm…' but eventually nodded and gestured for the wizard to join the rest of the company again.

'I told you,' Dwalin grumbled, 'And I'll keep telling you; the boy is trouble.'

'Then keep an eye on him,' Thorin ordered him and that was it. It appeared he did not want to speak of it any longer.

They found themselves back at the camp soon after. 'I haven't slept all night,' Bilbo complained as he watched the others pack their stuff, 'It may be morning, but I wasn't planning on leaving yet. I would like to rest!'

'Yeah, me too!' Ron agreed.

Bifur nodded as well and gestured with his hands and arms. The others guessed he meant he would prefer a nap as well, but Ori shook his head at them.

'Thorin said we were leaving now,' he told them, 'And we better listen to him. He says it's not safe to sleep during the day. I think he's right; who knows what kind of creatures and animals walk around here.'

'Yeah? Well, who does he think he is to make all the important decisions?' Ron grouched.

'The future king,' Balin reminded him, packing his bags from the ground.

Ron rolled his eyes, but thought it best to do as he was told after all.

It wasn't long before Ron and Bilbo got to complain even more. Because apart from the fact that they had had no rest whatsoever, they also had no ponies and not a lot of food.

So they went by foot and all they had had for breakfast was a rotten apple they had found lying on the ground. 'So where are we headed?' Bilbo asked for a third time during their journey.

'The Lonely Mountain,' came the reply from Dori.

'Yes, but where are we going to rest? What's our next stop?'

The dwarf shrugged. 'Ask the wizard,' he sighed.

'Well,' Ron muttered under his breath, 'If we have only his answer, I'm not even going to ask. He says nothing to go on!'

Draco was the only who seemed rather please they had lost their ponies to the trolls. This way he didn't have to share one with Dwalin anymore. However, the broad dwarf wouldn't let him out of his sight.

In fact, the boy was surrounded by dwarves. Oin, Gloin, Bofur, Bifur, Bombur, Balin and of course, Dwalin were close by and even if he had wanted to run, he would not have been given the chance. The only dwarf he liked, or didn't hate at least, was Bofur. The hatted dwarf actually seemed to care a little more than the others. 'How old are you?' he asked to get a conversation going.

'Seventeen,' he replied bluntly.

'Like the others?'

He nodded. 'Yes. Why?'

'I noticed how you don't get along very well. If you go to the same school, and know each other then why aren't you friends? They're nice enough.'

Draco smirked. 'They're idiots.'

Bofur looked at him with a certain confusion and sadness in his eyes. 'I think they are brilliant,' he told the boy.

'Everyone thinks so. Especially Potter,' he added contemptuously.

Ahead of everyone else were Gandalf, Harry, Thorin, Fili, Kili, Hermione and Luna. Gandalf was walking next to Harry and they were deep in conversation.

'I wish to know a little more about you and your world, if you wouldn't mind telling me more,' the old man hinted at him.

'Ask me anything,' Harry smiled. If it had been anyone else asking him, he would have been more suspicious and careful, but he trusted the wizard more than anyone of the company.

'That scar on your forehead,' he pointed out, 'How did you come by it?'

Harry raised an eyebrow, surprised by the fact that Gandalf asked that question out of all the questions he could have asked instead. Subconsciously he brushed his dark hair aside and briefly touched it. It didn't hurt, he thought to himself. It was the first time that he realised it probably would never hurt again.

For a short moment he hesitated, wondering whether he should tell his story. But it didn't take him long to decide that he had nothing to lose anyway, so he explained what happened to his parents and how Voldemort had tried to kill him and how he had failed.

'And this… Voldemort,' Gandalf muttered, 'What happened to him? In the end?'

Before Harry could reply however, Thorin rudely interrupted their conversation. 'Gandalf,' he began, 'I am the one leading this quest. However, I do not even know where I am leading my friends and family at the moment. You seem to be in charge all of a sudden…'

He tilted his chin up a bit to look taller and looked the wizard in the eye. He didn't blink nor did he look away. It was obvious he wanted an answer, and a serious one at that but the wizard did not answer him. He did not even give him a mysterious answer like he usually did.

'We are not going to see the elves are we?' Thorin asked, disgust in his voice. When the old man still didn't reply the dwarf figured it would help to shout. 'Gandalf! Tell me!'

'Elves?' Luna smiled at Fili as she heard Thorin mention them. 'Are we going to see the elves?'

'I hope not,' Fili grumbled, but added a small smirk.

'Why not?' Luna's asked in her dreamy voice.

'Long story.'

'Shut up,' his brother laughed, 'It's not long nor difficult. The elves and dwarves don't get along very well. Basically; when the dragon attacked our homeland and we had to run for our lives the elves did not come to our aid. And then there's plenty of other things, but uncle doesn't really talk about it often. It's a sensitive topic.'

'Well, I think they're right. The elves are creatures as well and they deserve their freedom,' Hermione lectured, 'It's not fair to expect of them they will come as soon as you call. They are not your slaves.'

Fili and Kili looked at each other, frowned and then shrugged. 'What?' they asked simultaneously.

'I said,' Hermione repeated herself, 'They. Are. Not. Your. Slaves.'

Luna giggled quietly. 'I think you're thinking of a different kind of elves, Hermione,' she laughed. 'They aren't talking about house-elves!'

'What're house-elves?' Kili asked, chuckling.

'You mean there are other kinds of elves?' Hermione returned his question, not believing a word of what Luna was saying. Hermione couldn't help thinking she was - once again – making it up on the spot.

'The elves look a bit like humans,' Luna began to explain, 'And are quite beautiful. All of them.'

The dwarf-brothers exchanged angry glances.

'They're tall and have pointy ear. They're fast and light on their feet… And most of them are very good with bow and arrow.' She stopped to look at the dwarves. 'Am I right?'

They nodded. 'In a way. Apart from the 'beautiful' part. And you're right, they are no bad archers, but I wouldn't describe them as 'very good',' Kili mumbled.

'In here,' they heard Gandalf order. He gestured at a big hole in the ground that led to a tunnel. Thorin, who still didn't know whether or not the wizard was leading them to the elves, followed reluctantly.

The road before them was a cold one and it took some time to adjust to the darkness as well. Bilbo and Ron instantly groaned and began their next rant of complaints.

Fortunately for them the path wasn't a very long one and after turning a fourth corner they saw the sunlight. Before them lay a green valley and the hobbit, the young wizards and even the dwarves were speechless at its sight.

'This, is the Last Homely House,' Gandalf introduced the beautiful buildings before them, 'Otherwise known as…'

'Rivendell,' Bilbo whispered in delight.

'What's Rivendell?' Harry asked.

Gandalf smiled fondly as he looked at the red rooftops and green windows, 'This is the house of Lord Elrond and his elf friends.'

Before Harry could reply, Thorin angrily stepped forward and pointed his finger at Gandalf. 'You said you wouldn't lead us to the elves. I trusted you! And here we are.'

'We need their help, Thorin Oakenshield. Whether you like it or not.' And with those last words the company descended into the Valley.

**We know that it's been a full two weeks since we last updated, and we're sorry. We have been very busy with school, you see. **

**However, here it is and we hope you like it. As always; please leave a review. They are the best and always make our day! If you didn't like it one bit, that's fine too, and please tell us where we messed up. **

**Love, **

**From both of us. **


	4. Chapter 4

**4. **

Gandalf led the way to the Last Homely House across a fairly small bridge. The thirteen dwarves, the hobbit and the five wizards all followed and looked around in amazement. Even the grumpiest of dwarves couldn't deny that Rivendell was quite beautiful. Bilbo found himself gazing up as he walked the bridge to a small circular square where the group assembled in a small cluster.

Everyone was still so busy looking around that they only realised they were being watched from a distance. It was only when Gandalf looked up and he saw the tall elf that he nudged his friends and waved. 'My lord Elrond,' he smiled fondly when the elf began to descend the marble staircase that led to the square.

'Gandalf, my old friend,' the elf-lord greeted him and kissed him on the cheek. 'I see you bring company to my home.'

The wizard nodded and introduced every single dwarf, wizard and hobbit. Elrond raised an eyebrow upon hearing the names 'Dori, Nori and Ori,' and suppressed a grin. Finally Thorin Oakenshield was introduced as the company's leader and Elrond nodded as if he recognised him. He then went on to say something in Elvish which only Gandalf could understand. Dwalin eyed him suspiciously and muttered something in Thorin's ear.

While Gandalf and Elrond were deep in conversation, the dwarves were muttering the rudest comments, Harry took his time to look around. Everything around them was built very high, not just compared to the dwarves, but to the elves as well. It was as if they had had too much marble but had used it all up anyway. The result was more than beautiful.

He then studied Elrond and the elven-guards. They were dressed in long gowns that reached until the floor. The women's dresses were embellished with gold thread and the men's robes with silver pins and buttons. All elves had pointy ears and long hair that fell far over their shoulders. Even Harry realised they would all qualify as beautiful.

Compared to them, the travellers looked ugly and dirty. They hadn't washed themselves for a while and their faces and arms were covered in mud and blood. Their clothing were ripped and stained and the bags under their eyes gave away how tired they were.

'We will prepare a dinner for the weary,' Elrond smiled and bowed to the dwarves. They stared back, without even smiling or nodding politely but, as all were hungry, they followed him in silence anyway.

'Food,' Ron whispered to Bilbo, 'Finally.'

Bilbo licked his lips and nodded in agreement. 'Took a while, but here we are. The elves will make us brilliant stuff, I'm sure.'

Hermione stayed with Kili as they walked up the stairs. She couldn't quite believe her eyes; legends, books and stories told about the mysterious creatures in different worlds… Hermione had a difficult time believing they were actually somewhere else where elves existed.

Kili, who did not trust the elves completely, nudged her in the ribs and whispered a reassuring; 'It's going to be fine' in her ear.

Luna had no difficulties whatsoever to adjust. She talked to at least three guards on their way up and a fourth accompanied her up the last few steps. Fili, who had been walking besides her all the time, was now forced to walk behind. He shot an angry look at the elves who met his gaze.

'I don't like green food,' Ori sighed, 'Haven't they got any chips?'

'Where's the meat?' Dwalin complained in his turn.

The food in front of them consisted of mainly salads and bread. All different kinds, of course, but still; they remained healthy. And dwarves are not overly fond of healthy 'green food'. However, the wizards, especially the girls, enjoyed dinner very much.

Harry felt slightly awkward sitting next to Thorin, who was a very quiet dwarf and ignored Harry for the bigger part of the evening. However, the wizard thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to talk to him, even if it was just for a second. He would like to get to know the' important future-king' a bit better.

'So,' Harry began, 'How long have you been travelling? When did you lose Erebor?'

The dwarf raised a sharp eyebrow and looked at him from the corner of his eye. 'You ask so many questions about my past. Why should I tell, when I know nothing about you?'

Harry nodded. He had a point. 'Then what do you want to know about me?'

'Nothing.'

And with that the short conversation ended. Thorin sipped his drink and Harry had nothing left to say to him, so continued eating his tuna salad.

After dinner, which lasted for two full hours, the company were brought to a large hall where they could spend the night, though not before washing themselves up. The elves would not allow the dirty travelers in their clean halls.

When they finally found themselves in proper, wooden elf beds, most of the dwarves had barely closed their eyes before falling asleep.

Gandalf was the only one who did hop onto his bed immediately and after briefly speaking to Thorin, he left the room. He had 'other business' and 'would sleep when there was time'. But even though he spoke in a loud voice, most of the others were already too fast asleep to hear.

Harry, who was still awake, was sitting on his bed and looked around the room. He couldn't quite grasp the enormity of Rivendell just yet and wondered how many more massive rooms the house held. He lay down on his back and stared at the carefully painted ceiling. He felt his eyes fall shut and was about to doze off when he heard two clear voices whisper quietly.

'They're not so bad,' Fili mumbled two beds away from Harry's.

'I told you,' Luna's giggle sounded from the bed next to his.

'Doesn't mean I trust them, though.'

'But you do.'

'P'raps. But I don't _like_ them.' His voice sounded bitter, but Luna simply laughed.

'They're nice, you know,' she told him.

'Yeah. You seemed to think so.'

She sighed, 'Fili…'

But he turned away from her, wrapped his blanket around his shoulder and within a minute Harry could hear his first snores.

Somehow the wizard could not get to sleep. He lay motionlessly and kept staring at the beautiful painting above him. It depicted a great battlefield with multiple armies all facing one foe; a tall man in the blackest armour. In the background he saw several thousands of creatures, dangerous-looking ones, but even though they looked terrifying, the elves, men and dwarves on the left only had eyes for the one man. Harry shivered as he realised what the sight reminded him off.

He had been staring for what seemed like hours when he heard voices. Not Fili's and Luna's this time, but Dwalin's and Thorin's.

'Are you awake?' Dwalin's grumbled in his heavy accent.

'Yes. But more importantly, is the rest asleep?' came the answer.

Dwalin did not reply right away, but after listening intently he whispered, very quietly, 'yes, I think so.'

'Good.'  
Harry heard Thorin sit up. 'What was your question again?'

'What is the wizard up to?' Dwalin asked. It was a question Harry had heard him ask earlier that night just after Gandalf had left them.

'I am not sure,' Thorin's reply echoed through the room. He instantly lowered his voice again. 'Gandalf mentioned how we are just a small part in something much bigger. Something of importance to entire Middle-Earth. There are bigger things at stake here than our treasure, he told me.'

'So, where's he off to now then?'

'I suspect he's gathered the Council.'

'The council? What council?' From the confusion in Dwalin's voice it was obvious that he had no idea what the other was talking about.

'The White Council,' the future king clarified himself.

Dwalin gasped in disbelief. 'Are they here?'

'I would not be surprised if they were. If there's a danger in this world, then Gandalf cannot face it alone. He needs them.'

Harry, who was still listening, stirred and Thorin and Dwalin instantly kept quiet and peered into the darkness to see if everyone was still asleep. Thorin decided not to continue their conversation. He lay back down and when Dwalin asked his burning question, 'Can we trust the wizard?'

Thorin simply shrugged and muttered, 'We should get some rest.'

After that, no other word was spoken that night and slowly but surely even Harry's eyes fell shut and he, too, fell asleep.

The next morning Bombur woke everyone up when he landed on the floor with a loud thud. He scratched the back of his head and groaned quietly.

'Who falls out of bed?' Bofur grinned, shaking his head disapprovingly.

'The fat one, of course!' Dwalin yawned before Bombur could even apologise.

'Bloody hell,' another sleepy voice sounded, 'What's all the noise?'

'Bombur,' all the dwarves replied simultaneously.

Ron groaned and closed his eyes again, trying to get back to sleep but the prodding in his side kept him awake until he sat up again. 'Blimey, Harry, stop it.'

Harry grinned and put on his glasses, looking a whole lot more awake than any of the others. Which was odd, considering he was the last to go to sleep…

Kili was fastening his boots when he looked up and around all of a sudden and studied the room. He noticed how one of the slept-in beds was empty and there was no one standing next to it or hiding underneath, even. 'We're missing someone!' he alerted the others.

'Gandalf,' Gloin answered briefly. 'He left. Didn't even try to sleep.'

'No, but someone else as well, look,' he pointed at the bed and finally the others looked up and noticed it was indeed not just Gandalf's bed that was empty.

'Who are we missing then?'

The dwarves started counting the other around them, but most of them lost count during the way or ended up counting 20 people in the room, which was obviously too many. Most of them didn't remember who had been in the beds next to them because they had all been too tired to notice the night before, so they were having some difficulties trying to figure out who wasn't there.

'It's the blond wizard boy,' Balin noted eventually.

'Malfoy,' Harry spat and sighed, 'Of course.'

He and Ron exchanged a meaningful glance. They were both concerned about what he had been up to.

'Why has he left?' Dwalin asked, squinting his eyes, 'He is doing something bad, I tell you.'

'We don't know that,' Hermione disagreed, 'For all we know, he woke up early and went to get breakfast!'

'Hermione, you can't be serious? It's Malfoy we're talking about here,' Ron told her, looking at her as if she had gone mental.

'IT'S THE ELVES,' Gloin gasped all of a sudden. When he had everyone's attention he continued, 'Those rotten elves must have taken him and killed him!'

'The elves! The elves!' it sounded all across the hall.

Luna tried to raise her voice, but hardly anyone heard her say, 'They would never do that.'

'Silence!' Thorin's booming voice echoed through the room. 'Instead of guessing the faith that may have befallen the boy, we should reason and consult Gandalf. He will know.'

'Breakfast first,' Bilbo told the dwarf sternly. Only the hobbit could talk to the future king like that, without even blinking. After all, it was First Breakfast that was at stake here. 'I am hungry and want to eat.'

That, the others could get behind and they nodded in agreement, completely forgetting about Draco and Thorin's advice about talking to Gandalf.

However, everything came back to them when they saw the old wizard sitting at the long table where they had had dinner the previous night. 'Good morning,' he greeted them heartily, and subtly winked at Bilbo, who raised an eyebrow and mouthed. 'What do you mean?' with a soft smile on his face.

Thorin sat down next to the wise man and got straight to business. 'Do you know where the boy is?'

'Boy? You are all boys. Which one do you mean?'

Thorin wondered whether Gandalf actually wanted to know because he didn't, or because he needed more time to think about his answer, because it seemed unlikely that the man, brilliant as he was, had not noticed who was missing from the group. 'The one named Draco.'

Before Gandalf could reply, a large group of elves arrived at their table. Some of the dwarves muttered a couple of insults or shot them nasty looks, but they did not seem to notice and if they did than they clearly didn't care. A tall elf with long brown hair was among them. He was wearing long, beautifully decorated robes and held his chin up high. It was obvious he was quite an important elf…

'Lindir,' he introduced himself to the company. 'My Lord Elrond is occupied at the moment, so I'll be your host for a short while. We have come to bring you breakfast.' He smiled a friendly smile and gestured at the others behind him. They were carrying bread, salads and some others things the dwarves and wizards did not recognise.

As they put the food on the table, Gandalf spoke to Lindir. 'It appears we are missing a member of our company,' he began, 'A blonde human, perhaps you have seen him?'

The elf shook his head. 'I have not. But I will help you look.'

He whispered something in another elf's ear, he nodded and went away. He was followed by ten others. 'If the boy is near enough, they will find him.'

'Thank you,' the old wizard told him, and poured himself a glass of a blue drink.

After the breakfast, which even the dwarves had to admit, was quite delicious, Thorin asked if he could speak to Harry for a moment. The dwarf took the young wizard away from the others for a while so that they would not hear. He looked at him sternly and plucked his beard while studying Harry's face. He snorted, then frowned and eventually spoke in a quiet voice.

'I don't think you would mind if we wouldn't find Draco,' he told him, 'Am I wrong?'

Harry bit his lower lip and thought for a moment. Would it do any harm to tell the dwarf the truth? Or did he need to know that Draco was a nasty piece of work who could not be trusted? He decided to play safe. 'Malfoy and I don't get along well, that's true.'

'How well do you know him?'

'Well enough,' Harry said bluntly.

'And what does that mean?'

Harry hesitated again, but eventually decided it would be best if the leader of the company new that Draco Malfoy could be a danger to them all. And if not a danger, than at least a lot of trouble.

'It means,' he began, 'that Malfoy has done wrong in our world.'

'So I can't trust him?'

'No,' Harry agreed, but then something in his head snapped and he couldn't resist adding, 'But that shouldn't be a problem for you, should it?'

The dwarf raised a sharp eyebrow and lowered his head as to ask what he meant. There was a dangerous look in his eyes that should have warned Harry to keep quiet, but the wizard couldn't. What he had overheard that night bothered him. A leader, he knew, had to share what he knew with the rest of his group. That is what Harry had done when he had been in charge of Dumbledore's Army. No secrets, not for your friends and companions.

'You don't trust Gandalf,' he explained, surprised to find actual anger in his voice, 'Do you? But he travels with us anyway. You haven't told anyone that you don't trust him, although Dwalin suspects it. Not to mention that I think you _can_ trust him.'

Even though Thorin was shorter than Harry, the way he moved his shoulder and straightened his back made him seem even more impressive than he already was and Harry couldn't help feeling slightly intimidated. 'What do you know? You have only just met the wizard. You have only just met_ me_. How dare you speak to me like that and judge my actions?'

'I am not judging your actions,' Harry snapped, 'I am only telling you what I have seen and heard.'

'You have been listening in on me,' Thorin realised. He took a step in Harry's direction and rested his hand on his sword.

'I wasn't listening in! You were talking and I happened to be awake. If you didn't want anyone to hear, it was plain stupid to talk then and there! Not to mention, it's plain stupid to not trust him!'

'This is not about Gandalf, or my decisions! I merely asked you about the wizard boy!'

'Whatever I would say or advice, you wouldn't listen. You are too proud anyway.'

Thorin's grip on the hilt of his sword tightened and he sneered through gritted teeth. 'How dare you?' he said for a second time, 'You should be happy enough that you are allowed to travel with us. Consider yourselves lucky that me and my men didn't kill the strangers we ran into on our journey, because we could have done. Easily.

You bring people like the missing boy, ones who might betray us, you bring one as slow as the red-headed boy who slow us down, an elf friend who knows too much about our world and a know-it-all girl who adds nothing useful to our quest. Not to mention you,' he spat, 'Arrogant, strange and wrong about everything. We tolerate you because Gandalf does, and we do not question him because no matter what he is up to; he knows best and we would follow him anywhere. So there, we trust the wizard and you, you who knows nothing about this worlds, were wrong. Now tell me, who do you think you are?!'

'Me? Oh, I'm no one,' Harry replied in a much calmer voice. Subconsciously he had reached for his wand and as soon as his fingers touched the wood, he felt much more sure of himself. 'But I don't think you need to be important, or even special, to do great things or be listened to and honestly, I don't care if you are a king.'

Gandalf chose that moment to interrupt their fight. The wizard seemed to turn up out of nowhere and Harry nor Thorin knew how long he had been standing where he stood now or how much he had heard. However, he pretended not to have heard anything at all and instead of making a comment about their bickering, he came to bring news. 'They have found him.'

Harry and Thorin did not speak to each other when they arrived at the breakfast table. The dwarves were all there, as were the young wizards, the hobbit and the ten elves who had set out in search of Draco. It was obvious that they had been successful. Draco Malfoy was standing next to Dwalin who, as always, kept a firm eye on him. He looked rather unhappy, which wasn't too surprising given that so many dwarves were staring at him in absolute disgust.

'Where have you been?'

'Were you trying to do something on your own?' Ron asked, 'Trying to get back to your mum and dad in the Wizarding World?'

'Where. Have. You. Been?' Thorin spoke in a deep voice as he stepped closer to Draco until he was right before him. 'Tell me.'

The boy stammered something, but it was inaudible. No one was sure whether he was hiding something or whether he was too scared by Thorin and Dwalin.

'What does he say?' Oin asked from a distance.

'No one knows this time!' Gloin told him. Oin stared at him, not hearing what he said in the slightest.

'Was he going to run?'

'Did he betray us to the elves? Did he tell them about our quest?!'

All the dwarves started shouting at the same time until the hobbit stopped them by shouting. 'Can't we all just calm down?'

At first, no one heard, but he was backed up by Ron, who shouted a few seconds later; 'Shut up. Just shut it!' They did.

As silence fell, Draco grew more sure of himself and recovered. He tilted his chin upwards and for a brief moment his gaze met Harry's. There was a smug smirk on his face, which only Harry seemed to notice. Before he could be sure of what he had seen, it was gone.

'Where were you?' Thorin repeated, a lot slower and calmer than before. Draco opened his mouth to explain himself, but he didn't need to.

Behind him, Dwalin, Thorin and the elves a tall figure appeared. He was dressed all in white and had a long, grey beard. Everyone turned to look at him, and Gandalf closed his eyes. Harry wasn't sure whether it was a sign of honour or annoyance. 'Saruman,' he muttered quietly, but loud enough for all to hear. Saruman shot him a disdained look and no more than that.

The old man rested his hand on Draco's shoulder and with the deepest voice he slowly said, 'He was with me.'

**Here we are again. We are so sorry it's been so long! But we have been incredibly busy. One of us graduated (YAY) but had to work pretty hard for this, the other just had a lot of other stuff to do. But here we are again and hopefully we'll hurry up with the next chapter.**

**As always, please let us know what you think of the chapter. It means so much to us to read your brilliant reviews. **

**Love, from both of us. **


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